4th Entry

As another month is ending I’m beginning to feel quite sad as the end of my internship experience is getting closer.
During this month, I have been spending much of my time doing desk based research, reviewing AMEP protocols and guidelines and helping with the translation of several reports in Spanish.

At the same time, as new meetings and conferences are being planned for upcoming months (i.e. 2nd LBS COP and IGM Meeting) the Unit has already started to prepare technical documents and information notes. In this regard, the LBS Monitoring and Assessment Working Group is working on the development of the State of Convention Area Report (SOCAR) for the Wider Caribbean Region, which will be presented at the IGM in December. For this SOCAR report, I have helped with the preparation and submission to the working group of additional methodologies and any relevant information that can help in the development of the SOCAR. This task has been very interesting, because I have learned about the difficulties, and also opportunities, when trying to make this kind of assessment.

Otherwise, like previous months, this one was also full of Jamaican adventures, which included a 5 hours plus drive to Negril which turned out to be a rainy day (you can’t predict weather…), to spending a typical Jamaican Sunday on the beach (Hellshire Beach to be exact…if you are looking for relaxation, stay away!) and eating a superb honey-jerk lobster by the sea at Gloria’s in Port Royal.

Challenges FacedGetting around Kingston without a car is not that simple, which gets even more complicated when you don’t know many people and you just want to go somewhere..

Lessons learnedA solution for the aforementioned problem is, “route taxis”! They are not that bad actually! They are cheap, the drivers are funny (and sometimes crazy…) and you can meet a lot of different people! I highly recommend it!